SPECIMEN FISH
I was asked a good question the other day. What exactly is a specimen fish?

Specimen fish, in the true meaning of the word "specimen" and judged against the national record fish list, are generally those that weigh around 70% or two-thirds of the actual record weight for the species.

You also need to judge regionally though. My home waters of Cardigan Bay see very limited shore cod fishing. Most are small 2 to 3lb fish, with the odd 5lber amongst them. This being the case, a fish of 10lbs would be classed as a real specimen here, but scarcely raise an eyebrow along the Norfolk coast.

Specimen bass

What complicates the issue is that some fish may grow to well above specimen sizes, but are rare. Bass are a good example. A 10lb bass is rightly classed as a specimen and a fish of a lifetime, yet bass have been commercially caught to 27lbs. Fact is, very few bass attain that 10lb weight, and those monsters that show in commercial catches are probably migrants from warmer waters where their growth rate is far faster.

You also have to take in to effect the rarity of shore caught fish normally only found offshore. Take black bream. These are only caught inshore in the English Channel and along the west coast as far as Wales with any regularity. Even then this is only from a few ideal marks. The national boat record may be over 6lbs, but any shore fish over 2lbs qualifies as a specimen because of the rarity value.

Here are a few examples of what I class as national specimen shore caught fish.

Bass 10lbs
Cod 15lbs
Flounder 2lbs
Dab 1lb 8ozs
Thornback Ray 10lbs
Huss 14lbs
Conger 20lbs
Whiting 2lbs

TIPS AND TRICKS
When boat fishing over rough ground or even wrecks the humble paper clip makes an excellent weak link. Place the eye of the lead weight inside the U shape of the clip and let the tackle go down to the seabed. If the lead gets snagged the clip wire easily bends to release the weight and save the tackle.

Paper clips can also be pressed in to service as emergency bait needles. Just unravel the clip until the wire is straight and form a small oval eye in one end. The hook snood needs to have a loop tied in the end and clipped to a Gemini Snood Link for easy removal. Just place the snood in the eye of the paperclip and slide the wire up through the bait and pull the snood through until the bait sits perfectly on the hook. This is an ideal way to position soft delicate baits like soft crab.

ROCK LING TACTICS

Rock caught ling

The October to Christmas period is always a good time to get yourself a ling when rock fishing. Shore ling are rare fish and it's a feather in your cap to catch one. Shore ling average between 2 and 5lbs, but a 5lb fish is a good one.

It's unusual for shore ling to be caught in less than 20ft of water. Look for marks where you have a minimum of 30ft very close in over heavy rough ground, preferably with weed beds. Ling often seek out the ground around the outside edges of little bays where there are numbers of small fish like poor cod they can prey on.

Ling are ferocious predators and feed both by day and night, but the better fish tend to feed after dark. They feed best either side of low or high water slack when the smaller baitfish fish come out to feed taking advantage of the slower tide run. The size of the tide is generally unimportant with fish feeding on any size of tide, though expect them to feed only briefly during the spring tides when the tide run is fierce.

Ling take all manner of fish baits, but plain mackerel is good, or mackerel tipped with squid and whole sandeel baits, though half a fresh poor cod or poor cod fillet is by far the best.

Ling have fine sharp teeth and can make a mess of light hook snoods. Fish 40lb hook lengths and 4/0 Mustad Viking 79515 hooks. Try putting a 2-inch length of luminous green or yellow tubing four inches above the hook on the hook snood. This little dodge gives you a better chance of catching a ling. Fish a pulley rig and make sure the lead is heavy enough to anchor the bait firmly amongst the rocks.